William Wallace

Stirling Bridge Today and
the National Wallace Monument

Sir William Wallace, or The Wallace, is
one of the most powerful, most evocative, and most well recognised figures from
Scottish history. It is a fair bet that today his name is better known
worldwide than most if not all of Scotland's monarchs. Yet he was never a king;
his notable deeds took place over a very short period of time, part of which he
actually spent in France; he fought just two major battles and emerged with a
score of won one and lost one; he resigned from his job; and in the end he was
betrayed and executed. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in
our Historical Timeline.

There's a contradiction here. Behind it lies the stunningly good
press that William Wallace has received over the centuries. Most notably, the
bard Blind Harry wrote an epic 1470 poem, The Acts and
Deeds of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie. This introduced the
story of Wallace as the heroic figure we now all know, at times without too
much regard for the actual historical facts. When the Victorians got hold of
the story the outcome was the construction of the magnificent
National Wallace Monument near
Stirling. Wallace's reputation
in his native Scotland was secure.

But it was not Blind Harry who brought Wallace's story to the
attention of a worldwide audience, it was Mel Gibson. His 1995 film
Braveheart added another layer of artistic license
to the one already applied by Blind Harry. The result has been criticised for
its lack of historical accuracy. But critics of what is, without doubt, a
superbly entertaining and enormously popular film, miss the point.

The point is that the historical accuracy of the film doesn't
really matter. What matters is the fact that it sparked a resurgence in a sense
of Scottish national identity that during much of the 20th Century had appealed
to only a minority of Scots. Two years after the
film's release, on 1 September 1997 (and on the 700th anniversary of William
Wallace & Andrew Murray's victory at
the Battle of Stirling Bridge)
the UK's new Labour Government held a referendum in which the Scottish people
could vote whether to establish a devolved Government for Scotland: what would
be the first Scottish Parliament since 1707. We share the believe that the
"Yes" vote in that referendum owed a great deal to the effect of
Braveheart on our image of ourselves as
Scots.

So that's the ultimate contradiction in the Wallace story.
Wallace's victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge only kept
Edward I and the English at bay for a
few months. But exactly 700 years later the myth that had built up around
Wallace was powerful enough to persuade Scots to establish their own devolved
government. Wallace the myth turned out to have far more historical
significance than Wallace the man. But without the man there would have been no
myth.

William Wallace was born during the 1270s: most say 1272. Arguments
continue about his background and his place of birth, with both Elderslie in
Renfrewshire and
Ellerslie in Ayrshire laying
claim to him. Wallace is said to have started his education with an uncle who
was a priest at Dunipace near Stirling. He went on to complete his education at
Dundee.

At some point fairly early in his life Wallace became an outlaw.
This seems to have been for the killing of an Englishman called Selby, son of
the English constable of the castle, who insulted him in
Dundee. He then killed two English
soldiers in Ayrshire who
challenged him over his poaching of fish.

Wallace's transformation from common outlaw to freedom fighter came
in May 1297. According to some sources Wallace had secretly married Marion
Braidfoot. He was visiting her and their baby daughter in
Lanark when English soldiers
became aware of him. He escaped, but the Sheriff of Lanark, Sir William
Heselrig, had Marion executed. That same night Wallace and his men entered
Lanark Castle, and killed Heselrig and every English soldier present.

Scotland at the time was without a king.
John Balliol had been forced to
abdicate by Edward I of England in 1296
and was being held prisoner in the Tower of London. Scotland was being ruled as
a province of England. An "official" revolt of Scottish nobles was under way,
but this fizzled out at Irvine on
1 July 1297 without ever coming to a fight, but another revolt against the
English was under way in Moray and
Easter Ross led by
Andrew Murray. Wallace always said that
his struggle was on behalf of the deposed
King John Balliol, though there was
never any indication Balliol supported the rebellion.

Wallace became public enemy number one after the massacre at
Lanark, and went on to besiege Dundee Castle. Meanwhile
Edward I sent a large army north to
ensure that the English fortress of
Stirling Castle was not
captured: and to suppress the rebellion. William Wallace and
Andrew Murray met up en route to face the
advancing English at Stirling.

The Battle of Stirling Bridge on 11 September 1297 took place
around the original wooden bridge over the River Forth at Stirling, in the
shadow of Stirling
Castle. This lay a short distance upstream from the stone bridge known
today as Old Stirling Bridge and shown in the header image. The
Scots attacked when the
English were half deployed across the bridge and won an overwhelming victory.
After the battle, Wallace was knighted by an unnamed Earl and became Sir
William Wallace "Guardian of the Kingdom of Scotland and
leader of its armies."Andrew
Murray fared less well, dying some time later from wounds received during
the battle. Wallace followed up the victory by leading the
Scots into Northumberland
and Cumbria, retreating only when the
weather became too bad to
continue the campaign.

The English returned to Scotland in early 1298, trying to draw
Wallace into open battle. This eventually happened at the Battle of
Falkirk, on 22 July 1298.
Wallace placed his faith in massed groups, or schiltrons, of spearmen to repel the English knights.
Unfortunately for him the English made much greater use of longbowmen than they
had in the past, a weapon against which the Scots had little defence. When the
Scottish cavalry abandoned the fight, perhaps through treachery, an English
victory was assured.

Wallace survived the Battle of Falkirk, but resigned the
guardianship of Scotland in September 1298 in favour of
Robert the Bruce, Earl of Carrick, and
John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch. It seems
that William Wallace then spent some time in France, possibly seeking French
support against the English.

On 3 August 1305, Wallace, now back in Scotland, was captured by
the English in a barn at Robroyston in part of what is now
Glasgow. He was betrayed to the
English by a man he thought was a friend, Sir John Mentieth, who led him into a
trap on the premise they were going to meet
Robert the Bruce. Wallace was taken to
Dumbarton Castle
before being led on a 17 day journey though England in chains. On 23 August
1305, Wallace arrived for his trial in Westminster Hall and charged with range
of charges. These included the murder of Sir William Heselrig at
Lanark and treason.

Wallace was found guilty, stripped, and dragged on a hurdle behind
two horses by a roundabout route through London to the gallows at Smithfield.
Here he was hanged until almost dead through strangulation; revived;
emasculated; then had his intestines and other internal organs "drawn" from his
body before being burned. His body was decapitated, then quartered, with the
quarters going to be displayed in Newcastle,
Berwick,Stirling and
Perth. His head was placed on a
spike on London Bridge.